Blacks slain in Michigan at 3rd-highest rate in U.S.

8:47 AM, January 24, 2014

Associated Press

Associated Press

A black Michigan resident is seven times more likely than the average American to become a homicide victim.

An anti-violence advocacy group says black Michigan residents are slain at one of the highest rates in the nation.

The Washington-based Violence Policy Center said Thursday that 31.5 of every 100,000 African Americans in Michigan were homicide victims in 2011. That trails only Nebraska at 34.4 and Missouri at 33.4 per 100,000.

Michigan’s black homicide victimization rate is nearly twice the national rate for blacks of 17.5 per 100,000. The rate for all Americans is 4.4 per 100,000.

The group says it determined the death cause for 428 of Michigan’s 447 victims, and 362 were shot.